Completed: Suikoden IV

System: PS2 (Playing on PS3)
Status: Completed
Currently: Got all 108 stars, beat both optional bosses, finally beat final boss...game locks up.

As the currently states, the game decided to add insult to injury, and froze up right as the final boss died. The sad thing is, I care so little about the finale of the story, that I'm not even going to try again. I got all 108 stars, I beat both optional bosses, I can call the game completed with no remorse.

The sad thing is, my last post was pretty bashing towards this game, yet I was all up for it redeeming itself. Random encounters are annoying, but it could be overcome. The game didn't even try. I truly now believe the horrendous amount of random encounters and the tons of bland characters that serve only for you to spend more money on leveling up weapons and getting gear serve purely to pad out the game. I believe my final time clocked out to be around 25 hours...at full completion. Yes, I followed a brief guide on collecting all the characters, and used Viki to teleport everywhere (you try spending hours just traveling between islands), but the game literally has nothing there. The stars serve no purpose whatsoever. They don't have any plot significance, even the ones you have to get beyond a few lines, and really don't contribute anything overall. The entire story is basically 'go here, do a naval battle, free the island, recruit more characters' rinse repeat for every single island. You will literally go to an island, blow up two ships, and step on the island with hardly any scenes to commemorate them being rescued or anything further.

The game is just offensive, all around. Too many random encounters, too many entirely useless characters, too many bland point A to point B events, a complete lack of any true story to the game whatsoever. This game is utterly terrible, and I now regret playing it even for completions sake...it just felt like a waste of time.

Oh, and the final dungeon, the pinnacle of the entire story? A spiral staircase. 4 screens of the same spiral staircase with random encounters. In addition to half communicated story that we long stopped caring about five hours ago.

I am so glad Suikoden V turned this shit on its head, or I probably wouldn't have many fond memories of this series. I need to play something to wash the taste out of my mouth...

Daily Review: Suikoden IV

System: PS2 (Played on PS3)
Status: Unfinished
Currently: Just allied with Middleport.

I was still in the mood to play more Suikoden after I finished III, and since this was the only standard Suikoden game I haven't finished yet (and I couldn't find I to do a full completion at the moment), this one went in. I had tried playing it before...twice in fact, and both times I had been driven away by the noticeable and obvious flaws with the game. I actually have a bit more will to finish it now, since Suikosource has great star lists that make it nigh impossible to miss stars, and make completion (and only having to play the game once), so much easier.

This is easily the weakest game in the entire series, which is sad because they had some good ideas. The naval theme to the game is unique and was what got me really excited about it at first, sailing around and fighting naval battles is a nice change of pace. The game returns to the more 'standard' combat and storytelling from the first two in the series, in that its turn based, and your main character is more of a blank slate, and doesn't speak except in choices you make. The runes have been changed back, so you no longer nuke your party with fire runes and the like, and everything is more reliable and standardized.

The problem is, in changing it back...well, the three heroes of Suikoden III were interesting and unique, and you could reliably relate to at least one of them. The rest of the cast was pretty interesting, though the optional stars were limited and optional for a reason. This game has far more pure optional stars to pick from, but most end up being standard 'after this point in the story, go back to this place, talk to this guy', and the characterization beyond that is nonexistent. Without the skill system from III, which was one of the best features, there is nothing to differentiate the characters beyond their stats, unique runes, and sometimes combos. Most of the characters I do quick upgrades to their weapons, take them to a few random encounters to get them to a decent level, then let them sit while I use a more standard team of reliably strong characters.

The main character is the worst offender in the entire lineup....he's dull, he's boring, there's no reason for him to be in the story beyond the rune he gets, which other than being the Macguffin the bad dudes are looking for, really has nothing to do with the story. Being a blank slate doesn't help, in a voiced game, it just makes him seem utterly dull and a passive person in all thats going on. Far more interesting and sensible characters, like the king of Obel, will step aside and state you should be leading...but why? The character was a knight trainee who got framed for murder...that's it. That's a similar plot-line to the first two games, but it doesn't work here. In I, you were the son of a famous general, inherit a rune that gets you hunted by your own country. Your character was defined by the people who worked for your father and stuck by you, and that drive to save yourself and fight back. In II, you were betrayed by your own country in a false flag operation, nearly killed with your best friend, and end up joining and leading the resistance against them. There, you were defined by your sister, best friend, and other major characters you picked up. In this game, the blank slate really has no characters that help to define him. You can choose two other recruits who accompany you through the first part of the game, but they give no reason for being so attached to you, and after the opening part is over, they really have nothing to do with the story. This lack of grounding makes the main character feel entirely out of place, as others come up with weak excuses as to why you matter.

The worst offense in the entire game though, is the random battles. To be fair, I've played games with horrendously difficult and common random battles. This game however, makes the triple offense of random encounters so common you could get in two or three just turning your ship around, the random encounters themselves rarely being of note beyond hitting the auto command or a set few commands to kill them quickly, and lastly...the world map being bare of any detail. Yes, the ocean is vast and mostly empty, but this is supposed to be an archipelago. In the entire game, there are 13 places to go. Only thirteen islands to visit, and several of them have nothing beyond a treasure hunting minigame or a few characters to recruit. Sailing to a new location means about a solid hour of sailing over featureless blue water, holding down R1 to go a little bit faster, and reading a book. Occasionally, you have to put down anchor and rest, but the encounters really provide no challenge, or add anything to the game. They just take up lots, and lots of time.

Gah.

Completed: Suikoden III

System: PS2 (Played on PS3)
Status: Completed
Currently: All 108 stars, extra chapter finished, so completed!

I love the Suikoden series, though I never really owned one until way later on, mostly due to getting the playstation very late in its cycle. I actually played it first by borrowing number 1 from a friend a few times, and beat that without owning it. 3 was actually the first one that I purchased, and since then I've gone on to get all 5 of the main series, plus tactics. I love collecting the characters, the well designed stories, and the very tactical combat the whole series has.

Three is no exception, and the series made a good jump to the ps2 and 3d at the same time. The 3d models are very clean and the art style ages very well, so much so I doubt this game will ever look truly bad compared to modern games. The story was well written and kept me going the entire way, even though technically this was my second time playing through (on my first I realized I had gone past the point of no return for getting all 108 stars, and kinda put it down, this was several years ago). The added fact that the second half can change in story based on which main character you pick, adds a bit of re-playability (though I doubt I will unless I try to do a challenge run). Overall it is one of the most solid JRPGs you can play, and I heartily recommend it to anyone.

My main complaints about the game are more comparisons to others in the same series, and noticeable parts where they changed things, and made them worse. The most noticeable part is the army battles. Where the previous two games took two completely different tacts (the first is more rock paper scissors with special cards, the second is more fire emblem), each time you felt as you gathered up your army and collected all the stars, that your options in combat were growing, and you were becoming noticeably more powerful as an army. Since you really don't get your castle till halfway through the game (where its clear you actually control an army), and since the story is split half the time, most of the army battles have predetermined rosters. In addition, practically every fight is purely scripted, you last a certain number of turns, something happens, its over. You can't really win, just not lose. Even later in the game, the second to last battle is specifically scripted to prevent you from winning too soon, which ended with me decimating the entire enemy army, then the last commander becoming invincible at half health and killing my units until the game finally ran its scripts, and let me kill him. The only battle you truly feel you lead your own combined army is the last one, and its a brief flirtation. The other major complaint is the stars of destiny seem...sidelined for this game. A full half are ones you get automatically through gameplay, and the rest are minor additions. I fully expect if I tried to beat this game with only the stars you get automatically, abusing the ones that are -very- powerful, the only major problem I would have would be the lack of blacksmithing over a certain point.

Still, as all my blogs tend to be, I write more about the little nitpicks than the overall good. I gave this a 4 star rating on my Backloggery, and would easily recommend it to anyone. Its a good game, whether you enjoy the series or not.